Obsession
by Perhapsormaybe
Summary: Charmcaster's need for power, mainly Gwen's, has lead to a side effect. She wants more than just Gwen's powers. She wants her. Will the team trust her enough to let her join, or realize her intentions? Gwencaster, some Gwevin
1. Prologue

As a rule, Charmcaster always got what she wanted. It wasn't that she was spoiled. Quite the opposite. She worked hard, and was rewarded for it. That was how her sorcery had become so powerful so quickly.

But the work she was having to put in for her latest plan was such a staggering amount that she momentarily contemplated not going through with it. Her eyes narrowed as she watched her target – Gwen Tennyson – get handed an ice cream cone by the idiot. _I thought she'd have better tastes than that,_ Charmcaster noted. She looked around, a part of her hoping to spot Ben. At least then she would know she wasn't catching Gwen on a date. But the brunette was nowhere to be found.

_Great. So it _is _a date then,_ she thought bitterly. Gwen was laughing about Kevin dropping his ice cream cone on his shirt. Charm felt her dislike of the mutant spike further.

It had started off simply enough. She'd wanted Gwen's power. But the more she watched the girl, the more thoughts of her overcame Charmcaster, the stronger certain urges became. Charmcaster was not a fool, nor would she allow herself to lie. This was not a case of wanting to defeat her enemy. Not anymore.

Part of her still fantasized about owning Gwen, about degrading her, but more and more often the thoughts became romantically inclined. She'd even started dreaming about Gwen.

At first, it had disgusted her. She'd thought something was wrong, that maybe Gwen had even cast a strange sort of spell on her. But common sense prevailed. Gwen was not the type to use sorcery to ensnare someone in a relationship, and her feelings towards Charmcaster were not the least bit loving.

Charmcaster herself, however, was not above using such tricks to get what she wanted. She kept watching, waiting for an opportunity to trick Gwen, to own her completely. But what stopped her even when she had the opportunity was that there was no love spell that kept the target's mind intact. Charmcaster needed Gwen to want her just as badly as Charm wanted Gwen. A synthetic form of love seemed so cheap by comparison that she couldn't bring herself to utter the spell, despite having had dozens of opportunities by that point.

It was only when Kevin was around that Charm contemplated going through with the spells anyways, of making Gwen fall in love with her for real later, so long as the charm got her away from that complete moron. He wasn't good enough for her. Magic beings shouldn't be mixed with such low lifes, in Charmcaster's opinion. But the rules of magic meant she couldn't use a love spell on Gwen while someone she was truly in love with was standing so close. It simply wouldn't work.

She'd also thought of cursing Kevin, maybe even killing him, but he just wasn't worth the effort.

So, she waited, and she watched, and she plotted. One day it finally hit her.

She was watching when the team had joined Vilgax to go fight on his homeworld. She'd heard about them having Darkstar help them. And there was Kevin himself, also a former enemy, on their team.

Her plan was very simple. Go to the good guy's side. At least for long enough to find and utilize a spell to make Gwen her's. Part of her figured that all of this was just in the chase, wanting to taste the thrill of getting something there was no way she should be able to get. Once Charm had her, she wouldn't want her anymore, and she could go back to her old bad self, and those fantasies and dreams would finally stop tormenting her.

It was as good a plan as any, after all….


	2. Stage One

**Author's note: **Well, this story is more fun for me to write. A little disappointed it didn't get any reviews, but sometimes you have to write for yourself rather than an audience. I still love Gwencaster.

When you're waiting for something, it always seems to take longer than it should. Like the proverbial watched pot that never boils, it seemed that decades passed before Gwen, Ben and Kevin were attacked, at least from Charmcaster's perspective. But finally, she caught up to them in a battle with the Forever Knights.

She needed the Knights to get the upper hand, and she contemplated casting a spell to assist them, but stopped before she'd even gotten the spell out of her mouth. No. Gwen would figure it out if she used magic now. She had to wait, and hope things would work out in her favor.

As luck would have it, the Forever Knights shot Ben squarely in the shoulders, knocking him unconscious and singeing his skin, effectively taking him out of the fight.

_No way Gwen and the moron will be able to handle this on their own…_she waited until one Knight had gotten a hit into Kevin before making her move. A graceful wave of her hands and a Latin chant immobilized the soldiers. Gwen and Kevin both wrenched themselves free of their captors, looking around for who had saved them.

"When'd you learn that, Gwen?" Kevin asked as he went to Ben's side, examining his injury.

"That wasn't me. I know that spell…well, sort of. I never got it to work right, but it's from Charmcaster's old spell book…"

Charm frowned at the mention of her book. She still wanted that back.

"Well," Kevin jerked a thumb at Ben's form, "he's all right. He's gonna need a new shirt, and his skin's a little burnt, but he doesn't need a hospital."

"Great. Then we can worry about the mysterious person who helped us out."

"Does it really matter?" Kevin groaned. "We're safe, I'm tired, and I want to go home and ice my shoulder. I think I threw too much in that last punch…and besides, who knows how much longer the knights are going to stay living statues?"

"Twenty minutes."

"Huh?"

"They'll stay like that twenty more minutes, give or take a few minutes based on their height," Gwen explained. "But really, it won't take us that long to find out who our good Samaritan was," she extended her hand towards one of the Forever Knights, her manna filling her eyes and her hand as she traced the source of magic.

"…Whoever they are, they're still here." She whirled around, trying to spy their helper. "You can come out now. You helped us, so it's not like we're going to hurt you…"

"Who's not going to hurt who?" Ben asked, finally waking up, rubbing his side. "Oww…that stings." He poked his fingers through the hole in the back of his shirt, twisting awkwardly to spot them. "Aww, man, this was a new one!"

"Have you ever noticed all your shirts look alike, Tennyson?" Kevin asked.

"At least none of mine are covered in car oil," Ben snorted. "Who are you looking for, Gwen? And …why are the Forever Knights just standing around? …Are we still in a fight?"

"Immobilization spell," Gwen explained, "And whoever cast it is still in the building. I've traced the source, but they're not coming out."

"Oh. I see," Ben said, taking it all in. "Hey! Buddy! You helped us out, so we're taking you out for smoothies….Kevin's paying!"

"When did I agree to that?"

"You didn't say no. So you must have said yes," Ben insisted. Kevin rolled his eyes but didn't continue the argument.

Charm took a deep breath. She was not scared of their reaction, but she preferred that this go as smoothly as possible. She was concerned, and she knew Kevin especially was going to object to her presence.

Charmcaster stepped out of the shadows and made her way towards them. Immediately, Gwen and Kevin struck defensive poses, as Ben reached for his omnitrix.

"Relax. I come in peace and all that," Charmcaster smirked. "I was the one who stopped the Knights for you. Do you always try to beat up people that help you?"

"Only when we can't trust them," Kevin's eyes narrowed. "And you, lady, can't be trusted. I still remember what you did to me."

"I regret that," Charmcaster said, looking away.

"Really?" Gwen asked sarcastically, one eyebrow rising far above the other. "How about stealing my powers and trying to use Kevin just so you could hurt me?"

"Well, the part I regret most was kissing him," Charmcaster pointed at Kevin, "I really don't see the appeal, Gwen. But aren't you hero people supposed to give the bad guys a second chance?"

"Since when?" Kevin demanded.

"You're the one who's going to argue with her? Really?" Ben asked, laughing. "Doesn't help the point."

"Shut it," Kevin snapped. "Point is, team's all full up. We've even got two alternates. Game's all full. Looks like you can't change sides."

"Even if that's what you really want to do," Gwen added, her voice clearly stating her disbelief.

"I helped you tonight and I want to keep helping you," Charmcaster insisted. "Which is why I'm going to warn you we've only got a few minutes to get out of here before these Knights are mobile again. So you might want to do whatever it is you came for."

"Don't try to distract me -..I mean us," Gwen said, crossing her arms.

"Umm…Gwen, the Knights are starting to move their arms," Ben pointed out, "I don't think she's lying."

Gwen glanced around, and sure enough, some of the knights had gained enough mobility back to move their hands a few centimeters. It would only be a few more minutes before they were back to normal.

"She's helping us," Ben decided.

"What?" Gwen and Kevin chorused.

"She's already helping," Ben pointed out, "And we've only got a few more minutes to go destroy their database and ruin their ability to hack the Plumber files."

"I'll go destroy the computer," Kevin said, "but if I come back and you've so much as laid a finger on Gwen…"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You'll go into a testosterone induced rage. Just go do your job," Charmcaster responded, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, Charm, Gwen, you're with me," Ben said, preemptively interrupting the fight, "Round up the guns and destroy them, and I'll go get the car so we can get out of here faster…"

"Kevin's going to freak if you touch his car," Gwen pointed out.

"We'll work it out later. There's more important things than that right now," Ben said simply, before taking off.

"I still don't trust you," Gwen said to Charm, "But if it's a choice between working with you and taking all their firepower away, I guess it's an obvious choice."

"Gee, thanks, Gwendolyn. I feel so very welcomed into your little group," Charmcaster said as Gwen rounded the guns up using her manna. Charmcaster muttered a spell and threw what looked like an egg at the guns. It exploded on contact. "Any chance we could leave the idiot behind here?"

"We don't leave anyone behind," Gwen hissed.

"Relax. Just a joke. We'll go save your moron boyfriend."

"No need, the 'moron' is right behind us."

"And he doesn't appreciate being called a moron!" Kevin called back at them. "Where's Ben?"

"Getting the car!" Gwen told him.

"Aww man…you let Tennyson touch my ride?!"


End file.
